The Linux IT Guy
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Arch Linux with NVIDIA Drivers - Workstation Setup

Here’s a guide to ensure your install of Arch Linux with NVIDIA drivers goes as planned. I’ve added the DaVinci Resolve portion as it seems there are many questions surrounding how to get it working. Since YouTube cuts off text in the description, it’s better if you use this post as a guide vs. the description.

Outline and commands used:

  • Install

  • Enable Multilib

  • DaVinici Resolve

  • OBS

  • VMware Workstation

  • Inkscape

  • GIMP

  • LocalSend

  • Setup Steam and Proton-GE

In case you didn’t enalbe multilib during the install. Enable Multilib:

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf
  • Uncomment:
[multilib]  
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

DaVinci Resolve Dependencies

  • yay
sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
#check to make sure yay installed 
yay --version
  • Check to see if NVIDIA drivers are working:
nvidia-smi
  • To avoid unsupported GPU message, run:
sudo pacman -S opencl-nvidia
  • Need a media player:
sudo pacman -S mpv

Install DaVinci Resolve

yay -S davinci-resolve

Since the Linux free version cannot read the default H.264 format, we need to run our video files through the transcoder.

  • Transcode:
    ffmpeg -i "/home/chris/Desktop/test-video.mp4" -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_hq -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le \ OUTPUT_FILE.mov
  • Batch Transcode:
        for f in *.mov;
        do
            ffmpeg -i "$f" -y -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_hq -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le \ "${f%.mov}_conv.mov";
        done

Install OBS

sudo pacman -S obs-studio

Install VMware Workstation (for creating VMs)

yay -S vmware-workstation
sudo pacman -S linux-headers

*Restart before trying to spin up VMs. After a reboot, I had two issues:

  • “Could not open /dev/vmmon:” To correct: sudo modprobe -v vmmon

  • NIC wasn’t working. To correct: sudo systemctl enable --now vmware-networks.service

Install Inkscape

sudo pacman -S inkscape

Install GIMP

sudo pacman -S gimp

Install LocalSend (easily move files securely over your network via HTTPS)

yay -S localsend-bin

Install Steam & Proton-GE

  • Update and Install Steam
sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S steam
  • Install Proton-GE
yay -S protonup-qt
  • Install Neofetch
sudo pacman -S neofetch

Link to the Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOZT9NiMn2o

Thanks for following along and I hope this was helpful and informative.

Best regards,

The Linux IT Guy